Weather has been great since I arrived here on the 25th - it does rain here, but usually it is a light drizzle and it only last 10-15 minutes.
Well, finally my son Brett and I hit the lagoons for Tarpon this morning with Capt. Ormar Orraca - and I'll tell you what - this guy is first class (Note: Steve Moore - thanks for recommending Capt. Omar, you were right on with him). Hit the water at 6:00 this morning and we were into fish by 6:45. What a sight to see schools of these tarpon porpoising after bait. I lost my first Tarpon on a fly rod after the first leap - Capt. Omar said it probably was about 30 lbs. I tell ya - when it first broke water about 7 feet from the boat, my heart was pumping so fast I had no idea how big it was. My son hooked a 30 pounder and lost him after the first jump - in both cases neither one of us broke the line, it was a matter of not getting the hook set hard enough. Well next, all hell broke loose, my son hooked into a fish and all of a sudden this Tarpon came out of the water about 12' off the boat - all 5-1/2 feet of him. This is when teh Capt. said - "we are in trouble!". I had to say - "what do you mean", and he proceed to tell me that he could tell this fish had an attitude, and all 90+ pounds of him didn't want to be hooked. And then he proceeded to tell both of us, he had wanted to wished he had given my son a rod with 12 pound test line, but had given him one with 8 lb. test. Well, to make a long story shorter than this one's going, one and one half hours later the line went slack. It seems after two jumps (completely out of the water), and seven rolling boils, at least 20 runs of 150 feet, and plenty of chasing, the line had broke above the leader.
This gets even better - Capt. Omar says that a fish this size, which he has been trying to catch, is a World Record on 12 pound test line. Had my son been able to bring it into the boat, he could have had the 8 pound test World Record for Tarpon.
Well - we're going again tomorrow, so I'll do another post tomorrow. Brett's in bed early tonight - resting his sore arms. Boy - talk about a great moment - the look on his face was worth a million bucks. I also have pictures, and I'll get with Juro to help me get them posted when I get them back. I think I may have gotten one with that monster on his second jump - not sure how they came out, as the adrenaline was pumping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ladah,
Brett and Dave
